The big challenge is to become all that you have the possibility of becoming. You cannot believe what it does to the human spirit to maximize your human potential and stretch yourself to the limit.
Jim Rohn
Question 29: What Stops Us From Reaching Our Full Potential
All is well!
If you love your work, if you enjoy it, you're already a success.
Jack Canfield
Here I am again, showing up for work, sitting at my desk, doing what I feel needs to get done. My boss is the muse behind me directing my fingers to keep up with the ideas she puts in my mind. And I, in some type of dictated shorthand, am jotting down what I am told to. Sigh!
I do not get paid by the hour or even by salary. I get paid retroactively on commission lol. Still waiting for the check to come in the mail. I have to have faith that it will. In the meantime, I just enjoy what I am doing, right here, right now.
All is well!
Accept all people and circumstance in your life exactly as they are. Take responsibility for your life without blaming your self knowing that everything is as it should be. Practice defenselessness and relinquish the need to convince or persuade others of your point of view.
Deepak Chopra
Still pondering the idea of Karma and how I "appear" to be standing in the ring with Life circumstance. My heart is constantly aching these days for all those around me that I see suffering. For me, as I advance a bit beyond me-ness ( as slow as that process may be) the sense of suffering I experience comes from observing and then feeling the suffering of others. That is what "my" so called major challenges are . There just seems to be so much suffering that I absorb. So I picture myself as a passive contender in the ring with life circumstance...not attacking or defending myself from the blows coming my way. At the same time I accept and allow each jab of circumstance, I am still wanting more than this ring experience. That is what I have been writing about over the last few entries. There seemed to be so much left to say about it when I awoke this morning. As if hearing my request for learning and expression, the Universe intervened. It is so very uncanny how this meditation series landed on my lap when it did and how after I write here about being in the ring and not fighting back , I run across the meditation in the 21 day series from Deepak Chopra on Abundance that speaks, to what I wrote about. All so uncanny.
The universe is an elegantly orchestrated symphony. When our body/mind is in concert with the universe everything becomes spontaneous and effortless and the exuberance of the universe flows through us in joyful ecstasy. Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra explains that there is something called the Law of Least Effort. This law comes into effect through trusting that everything in the universe is as it should be. If we act in harmony with nature and with the motivation of love we will experience effortless ease. We will see that we do not get abundance through struggle. We will be able to "do" less and accomplish more.
First, however, we must practice acceptance. We must stop fighting or defending ourselves against Life. We must stop struggling with the moment because, as Deepak Chopra tells us,When we struggle against this moment we are actually struggling against the universe.
That is exactly what I am doing in this proverbial ring. I am learning to passively stand there allowing life circumstance to hit me without lifting so much as a finger in defense or attack. I am not struggling with Life...as a result I am not getting knocked down...which is a big accomplishment all by itself.
So I am where I need to be before I am able to expect and accept abundance to flow easily to me.
I was up with a suffering loved one until three in the morning as the reality and gravity of this experience and everything she went through and tried to deny over the last several months came crashing down on her. There was so much, "Why? Why did this have to happen to me." I just listened and supported encouraging her to allow the feelings to pass through her. I absorbed every bit of that pain. This is why I feel like I am in a ring with my arms down.
My conscious intention then, from this place of allowing and accepting, is not just for me but for all the suffering others in this story...May they learn to accept and allow what is. May they learn to take responsibility for their lives without blaming Self or other,. May they know that everything is as it should be...in perfect order. May they be able to put down their defenses and the need to convince others of their innocence in this matter. May they soon realize effortless ease in their beautiful lives.
All is well in my world.
Deepak Chopra/ Chopra Center( March, 2021) 21 Day Meditation on Abundance. Spotify
You can't stop a teacher when they want to do something. They Just do it.
J.D. Salinger
Who the heck is in the classroom?
I am so totally baffled by statistics. I don't understand any of it, not sure who is accessing my site other than the small amount of information supplied by my stats page and Google analytics and that is so freaking confusing lol. What shows up in analytics is a small portion of what shows up on my stats page. Though the blog stats pick up viewers from all over the world...analytics only shows Canada and USA? The viewers from the States are showing up in analytics now but even that is showing a bounce rate anywhere from 60 -100%...closer to 100 %...Still there are always "new viewers" registered from four cities. ..possibly telling me that maybe people are being "referred" to my site from the same referrer but are not interested once they tap in. ??? I am perfectly okay with that. I know this content and method of teaching is not for everyone. I am very grateful to the referrer, if that is the case, and I hope I have not offended anyone in my confusion.
A Familiar Way Of Teaching
This is a weird experience for me. My experience with teaching, prior to this, was in a classroom where I could see how many people showed up for my lectures. I could see who was interested in what I had to say and who wasn't. I could observe confusion and disinterest on the faces of the students in front of me and could quickly switch gears and rephrase what I said for better comprehension. I could change the inflection and tone of my voice when I noticed people were staring to dose off. If that didn't work, I could change my strategy. I could see the few on their cell phones or side barring and called them on it if I felt it was necessary. I knew who was ready for what I had to say and who wasn't; who wanted to be in my lectures and who didn't. I could call upon the disinterested and the struggling after class for more clarification as to what I could do to help them understand or make the learning experience better for them. I would ask them if they really wanted to be where they were. ...giving them the opportunity to make other choices. And I opened up the floor every lecture to questions and comments. I asked for feedback throughout the semester even before the official course evaluation at the end of every term. I really wanted to get through to all my students. I wanted to encourage them and inspire them. I really wanted them to learn and advance forward. I put a lot of energy into teaching and I was good( if we want to use a judgement term) at what I did. I had the feedback to validate that what I was doing was effective and appreciated even( my ego did get quite puffy...sigh!) .
The Strangeness of This
My ego is definitely not inflated here because I have no idea if I am standing in front of an empty classroom or if the lecture hall is full of very, very quiet students. I really don't know. There is no verbal and nonverbal feedback directed my way. So sometimes it feels a little strange...like I am teaching an A & P class with my skeleton beside me, my power point on the screen behind me and I am passing along organ models to empty desks. Imagine if someone peeked in and seen me doing that everyday...lol...they would be a little worried. Yet this is what I am doing , coming here everyday because it feels like my job...so, so important for some reason I don't understand. I may never know who I am reaching. . I am lecturing away anyway, possibly to an empty classroom.
It is funny, I am suddenly recalling how sometimes the janitor would come to me after a lecture and say, "I heard what you said in there and it made a lot of sense." Hmm! Maybe I have a near empty classroom for now but there might be someone in the hall listening and needing to hear what I have to say. Do you think?
All is well in my world.
When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears.
Tony Robbins
Question #28: Is it wrong to want to be stinking rich?
All is well!
What I learned from Day 10 of Deepak Chopra's 21 day meditation series.
We can always choose again.
When you go to make that singular choice , it should nourish you and everyone else influenced by your actions. This is the law of Karma or conscious choice making.
True abundance or affluence is the ability to fulfill one's true desires with minimal effort.
There is a stewardship related to karma: responsibly caring for something we value as a path to realizing our dreams...
Every action we take generates a force of energy that returns to us in kind.
"As we sow, so shall we reap."
As we make conscious choices to care for what we have, more will be given to us..
The law of karma reminds you to consciously sow the seeds of abundance and tend to them with the upmost kindness and care. Soon you will enjoy the plentiful fruit of your loving choices.
...ask the heart for guidance in conscious choice making..."will this choice bring fulfillment and happiness to me and to those who are affected by this choice. "... Listen to your heart for the answer and you will always make the conscious choice.
"Today I make great choices because they are made with full awareness"
Om Kriyam Namah =My actions are aligned with cosmic law
-Deepak Chopra
Heart is still so heavy thinking about the suffering of those hurting right now, swirling in the consequences of their actions and ours. We did not intend this...we just intended safety and protection...that's all...and wanted to know how to proceed without denying the rights of the other. We did not intend to add to the suffering of someone already suffering so much. The decision was taken from us ...by the laws of Karma.
Each and everyone of us are responsible for our choices...what we think, say and do....whether we are suffering or not It is an energy we put out there...if it is not conscious, not loving, and negatively impacts others...if we are not in alignment with universal law...what we put out there will come back to us. We will suffer.
This suffering, however, can be a means of realigning us...making us more conscious and aware so that we are back on the path of loving kindness. I like to think that will be the case here. Hmmm!
All is well.
Karma moves in two directions. If we act virtuously, the seed we plant will result in happiness. If we act non-virtuously, suffering results.
Lipham
My heart is breaking for all involved in this latest circumstance I am dealing with. I don't see villain or victim. I don't see someone to applaud or someone to boo and hiss at. I just see one big messy ball of suffering...so much unconsciousness, so much pain sucking many in, spitting many out. It is just a mess. This is suffering.
My loved one and I did not want to add to that suffering in anyway. She is like me, and can see and feel compassion for the pain that lead to a terrifying ride of cause and effect (Karma) in which she was the target. Honesty and concern for all parties led to a big consequence for someone that will cause even more suffering for this person. ..temporarily at least.
Unconsciousness just brews and spews pain. Acting out in our unconsciousness turns that pain into suffering. Man...my heart breaks when I look at this ball of suffering before me.
I just hope that learning, and healing will come from this. I truly do.
All is well!
To accomplish great things we must not only act but also dream, not only plan but also believe.
Anatole France
I know it sounds like whining and complaining when I write about being bombarded by life circumstances. In a sense, I suppose, that is actually what I am doing...whining and complaining. Hmmm!
Turning the Other Cheek
Beyond that "Oh Whoas Me!" rampage, however, is my trying to say: yes...it is so important to accept and allow Life to do what she does without resisting too much. There is so much wonderful peace to be experienced when we let go of our struggle against life circumstance, when we stop judging and telling ourselves "This is wrong, bad, shouldn't be" and accept what is for what it is. We need to stop defending and attacking Life and all she offers us. I do believe that is what Jesus meant when He said to turn the other cheek. He, in a sense, was saying "don't fight back because fighting back will not give you what you really need...peace." So that is why I have an image of me standing in a ring with my arms down at my sides while Life is throwing her punches in terms of challenge at me.
No Victim; No Villain
In this analogy I am lost in a sense of "me-ness" and I am comparing "myself" to others in terms of how much "more" I seem to have to deal with all the time . I mean everyone has their struggles and really...struggle is just struggle. I just wanted to make a point how it seems that challenges have been seemingly coming so frequently, so quickly and so intensely over the course of my life I don't seem to be able to recover from one crisis before another comes. I find it mentally and physically exhausting even without the "reactivity" I learned to tame. I am not a victim though...I am making a choice to accept and allow the blows to come my way. And there is no villain...just Life doing what Life does.
Is It Okay to Ask For More?
I am also trying to say that I am simply wondering if there is a way to stop or slow down the blows, to reduce the amount of external challenge I am dealing with. I don't want to fight back. I want to accept what comes by but if there was less challenge and more awareness of abundance than I would no longer perceive myself in a ring. The "awareness" part is mine to do something about. Most of the change required is internal and a matter of changing my perspective and perception. There is so much abundance around me already and I need to put my attention and focus on that.
But...and this is where the but comes in... I just don't seem to notice that abundance when I am so exhausted from dealing with challenge...so I am wanting my external situation to change to less challenge/more grace and ease...so it is easier for me to be aware of abundance. I also want to see Life working with me in an obvious way so I can change this perception I have that Life is against me. So I believe, and maybe erroneously, that if Life would change just enough to meet me while I do most of the work...I'd be less stressed and more happy?
All the conditions I need for happiness are already in me and it has so little to do with what is happening "out there". I have a crap load of "de-conditioning" to do to get to the point where I believe, without doubt, that Life has my back. I figure it would be a lot easier to get there if I could see one of my little dreams manifesting through all this challenge. It might take me to the ropes...hope...and maybe even give me the inspiration to climb over and get out of the ring (this perception) once and for all.
All is well.
The more you ponder the impossibility of having your desires show up, complain about Life's unfairness, and get upset about what continues to manifest, the more those things define your reality.That's because whatever you focus on invariably shows up in your life-whether you want it or don't want it.
Wayne Dyer
I am trying to change my focus but I am also asking the universe to change a little with me to make it easier.. Is there anything wrong with that?
I had a bit of a vision of myself today as I was sitting at the kitchen table with my tea. I saw myself in a ring, a boxing ring, and Life circumstance was my opponent. Now it may have been a boxing ring but my opponent seemed to be, by the constant pain in my gut these days from so many quick "blows" , a Mixed Martial Arts fighter and a very good one. I am watching myself in this image, after another big blow (struggling trying to keep those I love safe from the unconsciousness of another that is proving to be quite dangerous and destructive), swaying backwards, staggering but not falling down. I felt the impact of the punch and kick. I knew instantly that it was a serious blow...that my opponent may actually want me out of commission this time ... but thanks to the work I have been doing with my mind, it did not knock me down. My practice keeps me standing and I am so grateful for that. It also keeps me peaceful and accepting of each blow too. So I am no longer putting my gloves up to my face or my forearm up in the air. I don't duck. I just stand there as each blow comes. I weeble and wobble with every hit of circumstance but I don't go down. Hmm!
This is how I often see myself. Though my response has changed , thanks to my practice, it seems I have been in this ring fighting circumstance my whole entire life. I have been knocked down, nearly put out of commission, so many times, but something in me never lets me stay down. I keep getting back up. I fought too...a lot in the past...getting a few good jabs out there. I scratched and clawed and pulled my opponents hair when I had to in an attempt to assert my strength but Life always seemed so much bigger than me. I could not get it to submit. And when I attempted to fight it, its defensive jabs seemed to come in succession, never giving me the opportunity to catch my breath or regain my balance... a right hook here, followed by kick there, and then some wrestling hold that would pull me down and take what was left of my breath away. Many times when Life had me down I just wanted to lay where I was and not get back up...I was and am so bloody tired...but something always seems to make me roll over, get back on these shaky limbs and stand up to Life.
With my practice I no longer fight back. I no longer have this delusion that I can bring Life down. I just take what she gives me, arms down at my sides, without resisting. I sway, I stumble, I stagger but I don't go down. Because I am so peaceful... I find my balance. And that is an amazing improvement in my approach to life circumstance Sigh! But...you knew a "but" was coming"... this is not what I want...to feel like a fighter in a ring with Life circumstance as my opponent.
I used to spend a great deal of my time looking for ropes. I wanted to get to them, possibly even crawl over them. They were my "hope"...a hope that says maybe you don't have to keep "fighting" Life or taking a beaten from her. Maybe with this woo-woo thing called intention and manifestation there is a way out of these circumstances . So I was constantly grasping for ropes.
But now that I am practicing acceptance,learning to take a punch; now that I am so centered and still in the middle of the ring, these ropes seem so far away. I stopped reaching for them somewhere along the line. I stopped hoping. And that is a good thing in many ways. It does mean that I am no longer looking to some future illusion to save me and it means that I am no longer looking for a way out of this moment . I am, however, still looking for a way out of this perception I have that I am in a ring fighting Life. Who wants to live like that?
Sure I have learned to take a punch without getting knocked down...but isn't there more to life than that? I would much rather be hugged by Life than punched by it. I want to see a different world...one where thee are no clanging bells, or ropes, or coaches in the corner. One where there is no one keeping score, no one attacking or defending. I don't want to feel like I am constantly being punched. It would be so very wonderful to be embraced by Life and perceive the world as if I am.
It is all perspective and perception. I know that. Life is neither a puncher or a hugger. It is just Life doing as Life does, randomly dishing out circumstances, as an effect to a cause. I am not in a ring...it just feels like I am. Life circumstance is not winning every round. There is no winners or losers. It just feels like there is. And because I am so punch drunk and exhausted my perceptions are tainted.
Though I appreciate this level of peacefulness I gained through my practice, I don't want to keep standing where I am, being punched. I don't want to continue enduring my life rather than living it fully. I want to feel life on my side, supporting me, protecting me, giving to me instead of hurting me and knocking me down. In order for that perspective to change, maybe this scenery needs to change just a bit . I want Life circumstance to change. Sigh!
So this abundance, in terms of the awareness of less challenge , more grace, that I am attempting to manifest with my conscious intention is a means of changing the scenery around me...maybe replacing the ropes with beautiful open spaces, the canvas floor with something I can dance or skate upon. I know what is really important can not be found out there but still I ask for some change in my "out there." Just enough to show me Life is not my opponent but my friend.
So I look at Life now and ask it to help me change the scenery, to add enough colour into my life experience that I no longer see the ring. I will do the mental work that needs to be done but I ask Life to join me in a better and much more wholesome perspective
I use my conscious intention to help me manifest my dreams.
All is well!
...Let us consider the abundant banquet of Life spread before us in all its splendor.
Deepak Chopra (Day 6 , 21 Day Meditation on Abundance)
As I consider and write about the ability we may or may not have to consciously change our external circumstances for the better, I once again run across this video from Eckhart Tolle. In it, he speaks about the role gratitude has on our ability to "manifest" some form of abundance. (see link below). He teaches in this video, like others do, that in order to attain abundance we must be aware and grateful for the abundance that is already around us in this very moment. Gratitude, he said, is simply the amazed attention we place on those simple things we so often do not recognize or appreciate when we are focusing on that which we "do not" have or what we "are not"( usually in comparison with others).
Life is indeed spreading a beautiful banquet before us in this very moment , right here. What we think we are lacking...is just that..."thinking". When we are lost in scarcity consciousness and limitation, we are placing our attention on that which is not instead of focusing on the beauty and splendor of that which is. In this very moment there is an abundant banquet spread before you...there is nature inside and outside your window in all her glory exemplifying this abundance. I look out and I see snowflakes falling from the sky in abundance, each one unique and beautiful in its own right. I see an abundance of green against a lovely white landscape. I look at the red roses in a vase beside me...( a Valentine's gift that is still flourishing with Life) They are abundant in the richness of colour, petals, beauty and delightful scent...surrounded by many, many tiny heads of baby breath that add to their beauty. I see a plant on the other side of me, given to me by a dear friend. It is extending in an abundance of vines around my curtains, lights, lamps, walls and ceiling...it is clinging to the preciousness of Life recognizing its abundance. I recognize abundance when I look at it...nature's bounty and resilience, the bounty of friendships that are dear to me.
I am surrounded by pets most of my day. I often have five living, breathing beings gathered around me or on me as I write here.
I have around me so many open notebooks with notes scribbled across the pages...so many words. When used wisely these abundant words can be transformed into something beautiful and life changing...with the potential of bringing abundance to others and myself.
A trillion and some cells in this body and in yours. Each cell working for the good of the whole. How amazing is that? We have hands that can hold a cup of tea, play itsy bitsy spider with our grandchildren, paint a picture or hold the hand of someone in need. We may have feet that allow us to get from one place to another...if not we have equipment that allows us to get there. How many breaths do we breathe a day? How many times a day do our hearts beat? That is abundance and each breath, each heartbeat is so miraculous and amazing...offering us the bounty that is life.
As Deepak Chopra reminds us in one of his meditations..."Attention Energizes". We need to start putting our attention on the abundance that is so we are energized by the splendor of Life.
All is well.
Deepak Chopra ( March, 2021) 21 Days of Abundance. Spotify
Eckhart Tolle ( February, 2022) Gratitude: A Powerful Tool For Conscious Manifestation/ Rebroadcast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzARLjSuPBQ
Accept responsibility for your life. Know it is you who will get you to where you want to go. No one else.
Les Brown
Question #25: What is meant by the need to take responsibility for our own Life?
All is well!
Attention energizes; Intention transforms.
Deepak Chopra
Examining Core Collective Belief
Still thinking about doubt versus faith, scarcity belief versus abundance belief. I am thinking of the collective unconscious in "me"...so full of doubt, limiting ideas, unworthiness, self-punishment and self-denial. I have an internal battle, it seems, going on inside between scarcity consciousness and abundance consciousness as manifested on the outside. I go between accepting and finding peace with things as they are and this idea that possibly I deserve and can have less challenge/more ease from the external circumstances I encounter.
I so often have doubt and see the scarcity/undeserving -of -more -belief wrapped around my memory cells, wrapped around every cell in this body. The experience I erroneously call "my life" is a screen on which this subconscious movie is projected again and again and again. I love most of it but am getting sick of some of it lol
I know this belief system I , for some strange reason, adhere to is not "mine". It is a collection of all the beliefs, voices, ideas, and learning I ...and my ancestors...have picked up. I think Carl Jung's definition of the collective unconsciousness extends beyond this incarnation. I think it also refers to all that has been passed onto us by our ancestors, as taught in so many traditions ( Thich Nhat Hanh, 2015).
This belief that I do not deserve more is mutely transformed into a beautiful acceptance of what is with practice...which certainly brings peace and it is a wonderful, wonderful place to be. It truly comforts and soothes the part of me that has Buddhist inclination in it. I honestly believe in the core of me that accepting the suchness of Life as it is, brings true peace and that nothing "out there" is needed or beneficial to our fulfillment. I do have to question, though, as to why some seem to have more external world challenge than others and I question if our minds are responsible for manifesting such realities. Why do external life circumstances seem to differ for us? Why, as the question was asked to Thich Nhat Hanh, do some people have different karma?
Different Karma?
Thich Nhat Hanh was quick to answer in the below linked video that karma is neither the same or different for any of us "individuals"and that any Karma, be it collective or individual, affects the whole....in the collective, there is the individual and in the individual there is the collective.
Karma is simply cause and effect. We can't have cause without effect and effect without cause. One individual action affects all, and one effect is experienced by all. So what seems to be happening to me is really not happening to "me" nor is it something "me" is doing with my thinking. It is happening to all and is the result of all collective input. What I do about it, then, does not just affect me, it affects the whole.
Beyond the Superficial Me
Looking at this idea takes me beyond the "me-ness" of my perception of Karma and Life circumstance. What brought me here to this present situation has so much to do with my beliefs...yes...but they are not just "my' beliefs. They are "collective" belief. I am responsible , however, for what I do with these beliefs and this version of Life. I am responsible for whatever action I take. Yes...it begins with accepting, allowing and embracing whatever enfolds in front of me, knowing that it is partly a projection of collective belief, but whether or not I go beyond my external situation is up to me. If I accept an external life process of "sucking it up and settling in limitation " ...as I have been accused of doing...what does that mean for the whole?
I am fully aware that what is truly important in Life is internal. Nothing I "do, become or have" out there will bring these things to me. It is a matter of opening up to all that is within me. Yes peace, happiness, joy and all that are within me...and I can find and own those things at any time regardless of how life circumstances enfold in front of me...but...if my external world reflects my internal one...would it not benefit me and therefore all if I transcend the notion of limitation and scarcity for the notion of abundance. If I transcend the notion of unworthiness, fear and this belief I am being punished for the notion of worthiness and being loved and supported by the universe, wouldn't that lead to a better, less fearful world?
What would my action be then?
Whatever I "do" needs to be free of striving, grasping, and clinging. It needs to be free of attachment to outcome. As much as possible, it needs to be free of ego.
Attend and Intend
The action to take then, would be to energize my life experience by attending to the idea of possibility and then transform my so called challenges and lack with intention. I need to be aware and mindful of the abundance already in my life and intend specific changes from the external world. I do not need to spend all my energy working to manipulate and change external events so they give me what I think I need. It is more about being open and trusting that the universe will provide in its own way as I attend and intend. After I intend, I need to let go, trusting that the universe has my back.
Can We Experiment?
Right now, I have one moderately big thing/change I will place my attention on and intend. I am putting it out there...mostly as an experiment...to see what will happen. I won't share that "intention" with anyone. I will make it specific and place a time frame on it ( not sure if that is placing demands or conditions but I will give it 30 days). We will see.
Anyway...I am not sure what Thich Nhat Hanh would say about someone in my situation asking for "more". I still practice with great commitment...the accepting of what is...right here, right now.
Does it do any harm to send out an intention from this place of calm, acceptance? As long as I am not attached to specifics or outcomes; as long as my happiness is not dependent on the obtaining of this thing...should it not be harmless?
I hope it okay to say...From this day forward I invite unlimited abundance into my life. (Deepak Chopra)
All is well!
Deepak Chopra (March 2021 ) 21 Days of Abundance. Spotify
Plum Village (January, 2015) Why do People Have Different Karma?Thich Nhat Hanh Answers Questions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7I4jP9s8bQ
To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.
Yann Martel, Life of Pi
Stuck in Doubt
I know at the deepest level that the mind controls reality for all of us. I know if I could reprogram all that junk I have in my subconscious mind, I ( this incarnation I call "me"and the higher Self) could have what I really want from Life. I so want to believe in this idea " Abundance is my birthright!" or Ask and you shall receive. Yet...here I am stuck in scarcity...looking at what seems to be a lack of peace and joy in those I love, looking at my bank accounts and my readership and my rejection notes from publishers...and I find myself seriously doubting these statements. More specifically, I am doubting my ability to transform my belief and therefore my Life with , "No...it won't happen for me." I am getting beyond the concept of "me" yet at the same time I am trapped in it when it comes to what this little expression of Life personally wants and her ability to get it. I feel that doubt like a knot in my belly.
I am on Day Three of Deepak Chopra's guided 21-day meditation practice on abundance. It was very timely to come across this meditation series on Spotify...Well , more correctly, it came across to me as an ad on my phone, otherwise I would never have known it was there. It entered my Life at a time I was dwelling in the mental formation of scarcity and experiencing doubt (the fifth hindrance in the way of what I truly want, engagement with the Ultimate).
Why We Doubt
Doubt and scarcity thinking/believing are not new to me and I guess are not new to many of you either. I find every time I get whopped across the head , several times in succession, with challenging Life circumstance, I have a tendency to get a bit punch drunk and negative...and my "reactivity" comes into the picture, pulling out some of those old self-limiting core beliefs in me. No matter how far I advance in this Life school I can still get knocked back down a grade or two by challenge ( a hard lesson), sigh! I find myself saying to the universe at those times, "Please just give me a break! Let me have one semester of bird courses and easy- learning, will ya? Just let me go more than a month without having some crisis to deal with. I am so bloody tired. If you got to keep challenging me, could you at least give me some positive sign that I am learning, growing, going in the right direction? Could you at least put a gold star on my paper , or just let me know I am doing okay by rewarding me with something? "
Wholesome Universal Beliefs
Then I catch myself getting lost in the idea of "me" again and remind myself it isn't about "me"...cause really there is no "me". So I try to get myself to look at and test my belief of these more universal statements :
And so many more. And I think I am getting there...but...then I see someone I love hurting, I look at my readership or my bank accounts or another rejection slip...and I think..."No...that is not happening for "me" so these wholesome beliefs must not be true. My beliefs that the world is harsh on people like "me" must be true.I will keep writing and doing this cuz I love to and I will find peace in that. "
I go around and around and around. ...from doubting there is "more" joy in store for me to wanting to believe I am getting it...to see the err in wanting anything out there in the physical world...back to doubting...etc. Vicious cycle. Then I wonder, do I actually believe that abundance is my birthright or do I believe scarcity is? Will I , for example, ever be rewarded with some form of material abundance ( just enough to stop the worry over money and as a sign that I am on the right path) for writing or teaching? That is not why I do it and I will continue doing it with or without external reward and recognition but man...it would be nice to trust that Something I can not see or understand has my back, that I am not being punished and denied ...that I have the power in me to do what I love to do, experience peace, joy, happiness, love, compassion and kindness "more" often and pay the bills at the same time. lol.
I erroneously tell myself if the universe would reward me with something external, a sign, I will know its all good, that I am going in the right direction.I don't want to demand signs from the universe and have my happiness dependent on whether or not I get those signs in terms of reward. I don't ! I want to appreciate what I have and be happy ...right here, right now! I have so much abundance in my life already and I simply need to focus on what I do have and what I want( without grasping or clinging, striving or demanding) instead of what I believe I don't have.
And as Samuel Coleridge put it...instead of forcing myself to "believe" I just need to direct my attention to the willing suspension of disbelief.
Sigh!
All is well!
The light in me sees and honors the light in you.
The Meaning of Namaste
Question 24: Why do you do that funny thing with your hands at the beginning and end of each practice?
Prayer Gesture= Anjali-mudra
This simple, often used hand gesture or Mudra, which is an energetic seal in yogic practice, can be translated into "offering"...usually indicating an offering of a greeting or blessing. It is often associated with Namaste which can be translated as above. It is also done over the heart Chakra showing that the greeting offered comes from the heart and helps the giver to return to the heart. By placing the right and left palm together we are balancing the right hemisphere of the brain with the left hemisphere, connecting yin with yang.
A very simple but well meaning gesture even if it has just become habit for me.
All is well
It is certain that you cannot believe in abundance while identifying yourself with lack. Forget the lack and think only of abundance.
Earnest Holmes
That isn't that easy to do Earnest.
Struggling with a Scarcity Perception
To be honest with myself, more than anyone else , I have to admit that I have been struggling with a bit of negativity, even in my practice. I have been feeling lost in a scarcity perception and caught up in the tangles of skeptical doubt. Sigh! I have been feeling and perceiving "down" as a result.
I was hit with a ton of suffering observation recently...seeing (and feeling) so clearly the intense suffering of so many loved ones all at the same time and I felt ill equipped to handle it. I found myself, though I never admitted it out loud, weighed down by this observation and feeling experience to the point I now have the perception I am "lacking" in wellness. I even pulled back from my wellness practice. I stopped drinking water from my jug, I stopped walking the dogs daily, I cut back on my yoga practice and have not taught a class in almost two weeks. I also, according to the kids, look like a "hot mess"lol. I don't want to socialize or go out and most sadly to me, my writing motivation has lost much of its oompf.
Doubting the Path I am On
At the same time I was seemingly consumed by the suffering of others, I was reminded that what I write, what I share is not getting out there to readers the way I thought it was. My writing is not being received the way I was hoping it would be. Though I try not to be attached to outcome, it is challenging to accept that at all the hours, love, and effort I have put into this little practice of mine here might have been a waste. I always said I just need to reach one or two people and it will all be worthwhile because serving in this way brings me so much joy...but I am not even sure I am reaching anyone. If I am not reaching anyone, who am I serving? Google analytics is showing that the few possible hits I am getting are bouncing off my page like ping pong balls. I don't want to be a ping pong table lol...I want to write, speak, and share this wonderful learning. I do not need notoriety or fame but I do need some validation that I am on the right path in this service direction. I guess that is where the "Skeptical Doubt" comes in. Without that evidence, I am doubting.
I also feel so intensely at times the scarcity of money as I struggle to get by, especially now that I have others in my home that need me and may have more before the months out. I am putting myself more and more in debt to provide for them without any idea of how I will pay it back. It creates a chronic worry that twists and turns into a big knot in my belly. Then I find myself craving...craving financial abundance ( which to me would just be enough to diminish the worry) . Still it is craving and it is hindering me in my quest for realization of what is truly important. Instead of getting to the point of being satisfied with things exactly as they are, money or no money...I am mentally grasping and clinging to the idea that maybe I can manifest some money into my life ...as if the money is the problem and the solution...when it is neither. My mind is.
My mind is the problem, more specifically ...those subconscious beliefs , so sticky and determined to make themselves known, are why I am where I am in my practice and in my life. This pathological idea that "scarcity, rather than abundance, is my destiny". That unlike, the rest of the world, somehow I am destined to continue suffering, struggling, without money or readership or without validation that what I "do" is what I am meant to be doing. Sigh!
I do not need to look out there for the answers. I need to turn around and look into my mind again...the place where all so called problems originate and where all solutions can be found. I need to look at the core beliefs that pull me down as soon as I experience a bit of suffering observation. Bring them and all the attached emotion up to the surface and have a chat with them. Hmm!
I just happened upon another 21 day meditation challenge offered by Deepak Chopra on abundance... a way of replacing some subconscious clinging to scarcity with a realization of abundance. I am not sure if it will bring more money or readers into my life, but maybe it will bring more peace...and isn't that what am truly looking for anyway?
All is well.
Stop being the flame attached to the fuel of your afflictions.
Br Phap Lu'u
We are not the ideas we cling to.
In Buddhism there are said to be five aggregates or Skanda's that we tend to cling to thus fueling, and energizing our adherence to these ideas like wood to a fire. Our aggregates are the wood we feed the fire...our clinging is the way the flames grasp the wood...and the fire is our suffering. The five aggregates are:
To put meaning in one's life may end in madness. But life without meaning is the torture of restlessness and vague desire- It is like a boat longing for the sea and then afraid.
Edgar Lee Masters
Question # 23: Why does retirement bring such restlessness?
Truth is found in Life.
Br. Bhap Luu
I listened to another lovely dharma talk today. There is so much wisdom offered to all from the monks at Plum Village or Deer Park Monastery. I try to listen to even a snippet of this wisdom once a day, or at least several times a week. It is how I begin my day and my practice of "Living for Truth".
I like my quiet solitude in the morning and will sit at the table drinking my tea...and I strive ( if "strive" is the type of word one wants to use in such a practice) to do just that...if I am drinking my tea, I just drink my tea. It is the most precious part of my day. Then I listen to or read some wise words of wisdom for about an hour. I will have pen and paper handy to take notes down if something said or read touches me. I may have my breakfast while I am listening or reading. From there I will do a walking meditation followed by the Salutations of the Sun. And that leads me to my meditation practice of about thirty minutes: may be nothing more than mindful breathing where I use one bead of my mala as an in breath and the next as an out, setting my intention before I begin and doing two rounds. Or I may do a Tonglen or more of a free meditation allowing whatever is in me to come up. I often do guided meditations as well, especially if my mind is very active that morning. I may do more walking meditation afterwards before proceeding to a bit of housework which I try to do mindfully. Then I take my notes and come here to write an entry.
Now that is my spiritual practice encompassing the whole morning and it is truly important to me. Of course, it is often interrupted for many different reasons and I flow with the interruptions coming back to my practice when I can. My yoga practice is done in the early evening as a class I offer to others or by myself. If the day allows I will do a Yoga Nidra in the afternoon. So this is so important to me and I learn so much and gain so much by this practice...but only a small portion of my learning, growing, evolving comes from this practice. The rest comes from living my life and observing my own mind in response or reaction to the movement of Life through me and around me. I try to record those observations and I offer them in my blog or in the teaching videos I do. I teach to learn and I learn to teach.
I know so well now, as Br Phap Luu teaches, that true learning does not come from any expert "out there" or any written text...as wonderful and helpful as these things are in pointing us in the right direction. It comes from going inward to the place of "not knowing"that lays beyond the concepts, the dogma, the experts and what they have to say to..."what is!" If we want freedom, we don't just hear about it or read about it..."we taste freedom". Hmmm!
Anyway, there is so much wonderful pointing to learning in this video. Do yourself a favour and listen to the whole thing. Then go about finding Truth in your Life.
All is well.
Plum Village ( March 17, 2019) First Person Applied Neuroscience: Dharma Talk by Brother Phap Lu'u. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDB4L68Pius
Did you know? That 70% of your dreams contain secret messages. The contain more weight and meaning than our conscious thoughts.
The Mind's Journal
I had one of "those" dreams last night...one of those dreams where I am being told a message from the deepest realms of my subconscious. I have had this dream once before where I was simply given a name. I hear the name... and in both dreams I see it, signature wise, written...In this dream I had last night, I even see it etched, carved or doodled in an oval. This name I have been given was so clear and so strong. I was actually awakened to remember it. I once dated a guy with this name... but I absolutely never think of him...never. I probably would not recognize him if I seen him. So the first time I dreamed of this name it was like "What the fork? ...why would I dream of him?" It made no sense to me.
Still...it was one of those dreams I know are significant so I recorded that dream both in my journal and for some reason on my phone. When I had the dream again last night, almost a year later,...even stronger and more profound in the way it woke me up...I realized that I was only dreaming about the name, not the person...meaning that this name may belong to someone else. So I began looking up this name today to see if I could come up with some link that made sense...and all I came up with was the name of some famous young tik tok star I never heard of. It was like What the fork? That cannot be it.
Hmmm! I don't know. Somehow this dream connection, I strongly feel, has something to do with what I do here and with my writing in general and earning...but I don't know more than that. So weird and cool at the same time.
I just looked up this guys signature...typing in "signature for" the name and then image to see what came up... I discovered the name, in its more formal form, and a very similar signature/ written text belonging to two different people with this name.. Both the signatures are similar.
The first one belongs to one of the American founding fathers lol...one I knew nothing about. As a Canadian, my knowledge of the States is limited. I did take American History once in University but I never paid much attention. There is no way...I would have consciously recognized that name as a founding father or especially the signature. No way on this earth!!!
The second one belongs to an artist who in the year of my birth came up an experiment to test the power of memory in art. He created a drawing...written script on memory in his own cursive writing and preceded to replicate it through memory four times. It is like wow! My artist daughter and I were talking about her art that very day...about how it comes from a deeper place than conscious awareness and we were also talking about dreams and memory. I had never heard of this guy or this experiment so I would never be thinking of that either. Yet...art, the signature , the name...Could it be that my subconscious did have this information within it and for the reason of answering some unspoken question about art ( my writing) relayed it to me in this way. . My subconscious woke me up so I would remember its answer?
When I think about dreaming this dream I am baffled. Why? The way this name came to me was too profound to ignore. I know, somehow, it is related to what I do here but how is it related? Does the name I seen and heard so clearly point to an old boyfriend I never think of, a tik tok star I never heard of, a founding father I was never aware of , or an artist who used written script to prove a point about art and memory? I still don't know but it means something...that I know. I am intrigued by the mystery of this message.
Just thought I would share.
All is well!
First it is an intention
Then a behavior
Then a habit.
Then a practice
Then a second nature.
Then it is simply who you are.
Brendon Burchard
I am going to offer you a Yoga Nidra guided practice.
What is Yoga Nidra?
Yoga Nidra is often referred to as sleep meditation because unlike traditional meditation where one sits with spine erect in order to stay alert, with Yoga Nidra you are lying down and encouraged to touch the fringes of sleep without actually falling asleep. Because this practice activates the pineal gland to secrete Melantonin, it allows for a deeper state of relaxation than one would find in a seated practice or in sleep even. In fact, one hour of Yoga Nidra is said to be equivalent to four hours of sleep.
The cool thing about Yoga Nidra is that it allows access to the subconscious that we may not get during our waking states. It gives us the opportunity to plant some new healthy life-affirming seeds of intention in there to replace some of those old subconscious beliefs. A Sankalpa is often used in tis practice.
What is a Sankalpa?
A Sankalpa is n intention or "heart desire" set in the the form of "I am" like you were already achieving that which you want to achieve. For example:
Don't be a victim of negative self talk-remember You are listening.
Bob Proctor
Question # 22: What are these voices in our heads?
All is well!
Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness of other people. The healthy man does not torture others-generally it is the tortured who turn into torturers.
Until we make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.
Carl Jung
As if on cue another beautiful video came into my perceptual field today...into my conscious awareness. It was a video that took me farther on the journey I spoke of being on yesterday...trying to transform judgement into seeing clearly, fear and hate for those who hate and fear into empathy, and judgement and punishment into compassion and loving kindness. The title of the video did not give away the teaching that was so in sync with what I was thinking about the last few days.
The Art of Suffering
The Art of Suffering was the topic in the first half, and the teaching spoke to how the energy of mindfulness and looking deeply can transmute the energy of suffering into joy and happiness. We must accept and see our own suffering...even when we look at others who are suffering and acting out on that suffering. We must recognize that that energy and that tendency is in us. ...that we too , if given the same circumstances, same past history, could unconsciously project our suffering out onto others as the people we tend to judge as "violent offenders" do. We need to recognize, accept this truth and then look deeply into their suffering and our own. Suffering is brought on by unconsciousness. As Maya Angelou said, If they knew better, they would do better.
The Healing Energy of Mindfulness
Becoming mindful, aware, and conscious is a way to understand suffering and then transform it. Al suffering is a shared because living is a shared experience. When we look deeply we begin to understand the root causes of suffering as well as the consequences of suffering in others and in ourselves. This understanding leads to compassion and loving kindness...and these two energies have the power to heal and transform suffering into joy and happiness for all.
Chanting for Compassion
About thirty minutes into the below video...a chanting practice is offered specifically aimed at bringing the light of compassion and loving kindness into suffering so that light can shine the darkness away. It is so beautiful. I encourage you to try it. It is not prayer or some manifesting technique. It is just a practice of mindfulness and concentration gently wrapped and assisted by the collective mindfulness of the sangha. In this practice, instead of the habitual tendency to resist or close up to suffering with judgement , we look deeply into it. We think of someone we know who is suffering, or we think of our own suffering as we are mindful of each breath we take in.That's all. We allow compassion and loving kindness take over.
I focused my attention on all the people around me who are suffering and the tears just poured down my face. My mind just jumped from person to the next...focusing for a few moments on all those I have been praying for over the last little bit I held each of them in my mind's arms until they and I were engulfed in the wonderful soothing arms of compassion and then my mind just took me to the next person. There were some I had a hard time opening my heart fully too...so I took myself back to my own resistance , and my own suffering maybe related to these individuals and I sat with that for a while before I could eventually open up to them. I often brought them down to children in my visualizations. That helped tremendously. I could feel the tension I was holding in my body leaving with the flow of tears. I found myself full of compassion and loving kindness for those who seemed "easy" to love and for those who weren't so easy. It was lovely.
Anyway...want to share that with you.
All is well!
Plum Village (July, 2013) Our Address Is Here and Now. / dharma talk with Thich Nhat Hanh. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNWv9biEGKY
Thinking is difficult, that is why most people judge.
Carl Jung
I am thinking right now about how to transform fear into compassion and understanding and I am wondering if that is the best way to diffuse violence? Isn't that what the great masters taught?
Why am I thinking about such a thing? ...Because my gut and my chest are tight with fear. I see what Eckhart Tolle would describe as a "pain body" in someone that is so reactive right now and I have evidence of how it can so easily take over the body and mind it is in. I see how this completely destructive and out of control unconscious energy is projected out onto others, more specifically my loved one. What do I do with this evidence?
Oh I know about these things, I do. I have information from others, experts, professionals, the statistics showing how "dangerous" this unconscious person is...how the "victim' needs to be protected and made safe away from this "evil". I completely agree with the fact that the person being projected on must be kept safe from the unpredictability of pain dominated unconsciousness...I do.. and am doing everything in my power. But...are we, as a society, thinking clearly in our approach to the person that is acting so unconsciously or are we merely judging?
Most of us would deem this person as "the evil villain "? Our fear for the "victim" be they potential or actual pushes the offender away and our judgement creates monsters out of them, ostracizing them, punishing them instead of helping them. Does fearing, hating, pushing away, punishing, ostracizing and villainizing this person make things better? Or does it make it worse? Is there really a victim and a villain here? Or is this what our judgement is doing? Are we thinking clearly , skillfully, wisely in our our judgmental approach. Yes by all means ...we need to do what ever we can to protect those that are being harmed or could be harmed by such unconscious energy...no one deserves that....but we do see, right, that what is directing all this is suffering ? Beneath this unconsciousness is pain and a small victim who too was hurt in such a way... Aren't all parties actually innocent at the core? Does not every human being deserve compassion and forgiveness for what they do.
This person is responsible and accountable for their actions as we all are. None of us have the right as human beings to inflict pain on others because we are in pain. We are responsible for what we do with this pain. And we all have pain and in some way inflict pain on others...as we are doing with these adult survivors who act out in such ways. We can hate what they do...but does it do any good to hate them, as our judgments do? Can we offer help, as a society, for them as well so that they begin the slow painful process of recovery? Wouldn't we do more good to recognize this shadow self all of us have inside us in one form or another so we can recognize it in another in the early stages so we can intervene and break these vicious cycles of violence in our world.
Instead of living with fear based judgement, maybe we can think about this issue a little more deeply...see all of it in its complexity and once again get to the root cause of all suffering...and the solution for it...Love not fear.
I am working very hard to let go of my judgement and to look at this situation with the eyes of compassion and love.
All is well
If you know how to suffer, you suffer much less.
Thich Nhat Hanh
What I neglected to mention in the previous video in regards to what wisdom is...is that wisdom is awareness. It is an energy that brings us back to the only "time" there is , the only "place" there is...where we can see clearly what is....and that is in the here and now. Awareness is wisdom. Wisdom diffuses suffering and helps to generate joy and happiness. It encompasses three things, according to Thich Nhat Hanh: mindfulness, concentration and insight. The wise know that suffering is useful, that it is the mud by which the beautiful lotus of happiness, compassion, kindness, joy and love grow.
All is well!
Plum Village (2014) Appointment with life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V2lEtKy7rY
The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.
William Shakespeare, As You Like It
Question #21: What is wisdom and how do we obtain it?
All is well!
Change your content!
Tips from Experts for Blogs Like Mine
Learned something new today about 100 percent bounce rates with 0.0 time on page lol. Not likely a crawler or a bot but a human being checking in and checking out as quickly as they entered. I think one site referred to the cause as the audience, "Checking in! Hating what they seen! Checking out!" or something like that. "Change your content!" was another piece of advice given on another site. Yep! Not well received lol.
The reason I thought it was a crawler or bot was becasue I am getting many more hits on my stats page from all over the world and many hits from the same few sites over and over again. Yet these sites are not registering on analytics. So it is really confusing. Anyway...I am here in this place of feeling so pumped about what I am doing without any of the external gratification ego likes.
I obviously won't change my content. I have not set up this site to attract notoriety or money or to create an image of myself. This is it...this is what I have to offer in all its imperfect glory...and I am putting it out there for reasons I do not understand. It is like...I am just here to plop down a message and whatever happens, happens. I leave the rest in the capable hands of the universe. It is all good.
All is well.
Zen is all about not thinking
Eckhart Tolle
Great masters like Maharishi often answer the question, "How do we know if we are growing spiritually?", with this answer: With the degree of absence of thinking.
We can measure our spirituality or a our progression towards a higher state of awareness by measuring how much we are thinking...more specifically with how little we are thinking. How thought-full or thought-less we are can also be measured in terms of how much we are reacting or how much we are responding to what is happening around us. Even when we are still reactive, what is the degree of that reactivity? If you find yourself still flying back with a retort when someone says something that triggers you...you are still reacting yes...but are you at least now aware that you are reacting or if it is after the effect...that you have reacted. That is progress!
Another measure of our diminished thinking/reduced reactivity/ and our spiritual progression is the degree and amount of stillness and spaciousness we experience in a day...and not just when we are meditating. Are you learning to respond to Life from a place of spacious stillness or are you still reacting from emotional/thought induced reactivity?
Just be aware of these things so you can measure how far you are coming.
All is well.
Eckhart Tolle (February, 2022) How to Measure Your Spiritual Growth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_jaO83YY8c
Being a good parent requires knowing when to push and when to back off, when to help and when to let them make mistakes, & then being strong enough to watch them go.
Unknown
Question # 20: How do we help our adult children suffer less?
All is well!
Dwelling happily in the here and now
Drista dharma sukkha virahin, is a Sanskrit term that basically is translated to mean "dwelling happily in the here and now". We are back to that teaching about coming back to the present moment so we can find find peace, joy and happiness. Right here and right now we have all the conditions we need to be happy...if nothing else we have breath and that is enough!
Thich Nhat Hanh in another short teaching video tells us that there are three sources of happiness: concentration, mindfulness and letting go.
Concentration
What are you focusing on right now? Where are you putting your attention? On all those negative thoughts floating around in your head? On what someone said to you yesterday that made you burn inside because it triggered something someone said years ago that caused you so much pain? On some event that is coming up in the future that you are so dreading because you think it will make you even unhappier or maybe it is an event you are looking forward to because you erroneously believe it will make you happy? Are you putting all your concentration on thoughts, feelings or emotional experience at the exclusion of everything else? Or if you are like most humans with monkey minds...maybe your concentration and focus is jumping from one thing to the other?
Mindfulness
Are you aware of where you are right now in this moment? Are you aware of the natural or man made environment around you? The weather? Are you aware of your body position at this very moment you are being hurled through space on this giant orb? Are you aware of your feet, butt or back planted on the earth, the gentle push of gravity holding yo in place, and your body's reaction to all around it? Are you aware of something as simple yet as life necessitating as your breath? Breathe...just be mindful of that breath going in and going out.
Letting Go?
On every exhale are you able to let go of all those ideas, thoughts, feelings and "problems" you have been clinging to...just for the remainder of this exhale? Can you extend that letting go beyond the duration of a breath? What ideas and unskillful notions about happiness and joy are you still clinging to? Are you ready to let them go?
Here and Now
The only place you can be happy, in fact the only place you can actually "be" is here and now. Are you ready to let go of your notions about past and future and just "be" here and now, accepting and allowing all that is in you and around you in this very moment? I hope so but if not...I hope you are at least willing to be more present, more free, more joyful and more happy...by refocusing your concentration, becoming more mindful and aware and letting go of all that which does not serve you.
What I wish for you is Dristadharmasukkha-viharin
All is well.
Plum Village( July 2020) Nourishing Our Joy and Happiness/ Thich Nhat Hanh (short teaching) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KsQsmzm-ys
The wave does not have to look for water, because she is water. You are what you are looking for.
Thich Nhat Hanh
I was reminded today of a beautiful analogy. That we are all just waves looking for water. When we seek our "happiness" out there in the external world of form we are, in a sense, looking for water in all the wrong places. When we are constantly grasping and clinging to all the objects of our craving, ducking and avoiding all the objects we think will disturb us...we are not viewing, thinking, speaking, acting, living, efforting, aware or concentrating in a wholesome, skillful way, in a way that will take us to that thing we really want...the water. We are putting our energy and effort into things that take us anywhere but there.
We are like waves yes...being swept up and pulled down, coming and going , blown around by wind and tide. If.we see ourselves as only one little wave on a vast and mighty ocean (as most of us do) this up and down and all around motion to our lives feels exhausting and painful...creating fear, anxiety, frustration, guilt, shame, anger and despair. It is indeed suffering. That is why we, as humans, seek pleasure and do what we can to avoid more pain. So lost are many of us that we forget that the wave (this body, this mind we see as separate) originated from the ocean...that it is just an extension of it. The thing we truly want and need in our lives is peace, security, stability...and peace is the watery depths we long to float in. The wave wants this water and fails to realize it is this water it is seeking.It is not separate from the ocean...it never was...so it never had to seek water...it always was water.
There is no searching...no seeking required...just a realization of who we are. Once the wave realizes it is water, it automatically relaxes into the peace, stability and security of what it is and always was. It comes home; it comes back to its Self. Once we realize who we are beyond all the craving, grasping, clinging, pushing away, avoiding, defending, protecting this idea of a separate "little me" and come back to Self.
This doesn't mean that the up and down momentum of Life is going to cease to be and that everything will be smooth sailing after that. It just means that we, in this peaceful spacious place of water, of Self of Source...are no longer disturbed by the up and down momentum of Life.
All is Well!
All is Well!
What I think , what I say, what I do is my only true continuation.
Brother Phap Luu
Hmm! I heard those words spoken today in a lovely dharma talk from Plum Village. (See link below) . And I was reminded of a discourse, not sure from what sutra or text, that I once heard translated by Thich Nhat Hanh as:
My actions are my only true belongings.
I cannot escape the consequence of my actions.
My actions are the ground on which I stand.
Many of us are driven to succeed...to achieve and gain, to get ahead. We call this our ambition, our drive but is it what we really want? If we after years of great effort and struggle finally find ourselves surrounded with all the material abundance in the world, all the prettiest most successful people, recognized as being number one in our chosen field...will we be happy? Really?
How often do we actually stop and look deeply into the path we are on to see if it is taking us to where we really want to go? If we did, we would likely see that our misguided efforts may actually be bringing us down the path of suffering, rather than the path of happiness. You see, all the things we are grasping for and clinging to...will never last, they are like grains of beach sand sliding through our fingers. We cannot hold onto them no matter how we cling...like all things in this material world they slip away. When we reach the end of our life span's and someone asks us what we achieved in this incarnation, we will proudly open our palms to show them , only to discover that they are empty.
We need to keep our worldly ambitions in check. We need to ask ourselves again and again: Do I want to be number one or do I want to be happy?
When we are pondering what it is we truly want from Life, what we want to achieve in these bodily forms, and what our deepest aspirations are ...we should keep Br Phap Luu's and Thich Nhat Hanh's words in mind. All we can truly leave behind, that which we can say belongs to us, are our thoughts, our words, our actions. It is the only thing we truly own. The only ting we can pass on.
I think I finally get that and that is why I am on this crazy mission to share what I am discovering with my Self exploration, with any progress I make in getting to know my own mind better. To others...what I do here is "absolutely nuts."...but to some deeper part of me it feels so right. I, as this "little me", don't understand this compulsion I have to share like this...with my words and videos. So many times I catch myself agreeing with that opinion, "This is absolutely nuts! Look at all the time and effort you are putting into this...and what are you getting from it? Definitely no wealth, so little recognition. Why?" Yet, here I am again and again. My aspirations is to learn and therefore teach...so the action I feel compelled to undertake is write and speak about that which I am learning. I am leaving my thoughts behind in words and speech. It is my continuation. I am fulfilling my greater aspiration and enjoying every minute of it, hardly concerned about the outcome. In this moment, right here and right now, I am guided to follow my deepest aspirations. How can that be wrong?
Hmm! It may seem absolutely nuts to anyone who looks on and even to me at times....but there is something coming from my deeper Self that keeps telling me to sit here, to write, to speak what I am learning. To the Deeper Self...this is not absolutely nuts, it is "absolutely right" ( Right thoughts, Right speech, Right action and Right effort!)
All is well
Plum Village (June, 2019) No Where To Go, Nothing To, Do/Business Retreat, Brother Phap Luu https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9m7oZlH2Lw
The moment you understand yourself as the true Self, you find such peace and bliss that the impressions of the petty enjoyments you experienced before become as ordinary specks of light in front of the brilliant sun.
Sri Swami Satchidananda (2011) The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Integral Yoga Publications, page 27-28
Question 18: What is the difference between the true Self and the psyche?
All is Well!
As An Island Onto MySelf,
Sangha is My Five Skandas working in harmony.
Taking Refuge In MySelf; Coming Back To MySelf
I Am Free.
From: Thich Nhat Hanh (2011) peace is every breath,Harper One, page 37
In a beautiful dharma talk today by the late Thich Nhat Hanh I was reminded that we are often like waves looking for water. As waves we are upset and tired as we go up and down, blown around my storms, caught up in the whirl pools of external and internal turbulence and desperately seek some solidity, some peace...some calm water to rest in. Of course, as waves, we are the very water we are searching for, the very solidity and stability, the spaciousness or emptiness we are seeking refuge in. We need to come back to the water we are emanating from by simply realizing we are it. It is in us.
In the above gatha we are encouraged to bring this truth, and therefore the awareness of God's peace, back to our our five skandas: Body, Feeling, Perception, Mental Formations { thoughts, emotions, moods, mind states} and Consciousness...so we feel that liberation, that freedom. Waves will continue to go up and down as waves do. Life will continue to offer us the impermanent and unpredictable but every time we remember we are water, that we are "islands onto ourselves", we will feel peace and deal with Life through that peace. Hanh refers to this as "Resting in God."
As waves, great peace will come to help us deal with Life once we realize we are the very water we are looking for.
All is well!
Plum Village App (August 2020) Resting in God/Thich Nhat Hanh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6t_jXu6P70
